Junior Ross & The Spears – Judgement Time / Judgement Dub (1976)

“‘I can hear the children singing, I can hear the trumpets sounding,’ Junior Ross & the Spear sing, and it can only mean one thing: ‘Judgement Time’ has come. It’s too late for mercy now, and those who sowed bitter seeds are about to reap the bitterest of wheat. No wonder the wicked are weeping. In the second half of the ’70s, for Jamaicans the apocalypse really did seem to be nigh, and roots artists flooded the island with songs prophesying its arrival. This was one of the punchiest, powered by a stellar rockers riddim that positively pours across the grooves, like the Nile in flood. Utterly infectious and propelled by the crispest of rhythms, with its bubbling atmosphere counterweighted by brass and organ solos tinged with melancholy, this was one of producer Tapper Zukie’s best riddims. Twinned with Ross & the Spear’s superb performance that hovers deftly between excitement at Jah’s coming and a touch of pity for those many lost souls, ‘Judgement Time’ was a cultural masterpiece.”allmusic